Paladin
by play.read.write
Summary: Huntsman and Huntresses, warriors trained in the use of special Mechanized Battle Suits commonly called Paladins. Team RWBY trains in their suits to become one of these elite warriors in the never ending battle against the grimm. However when a routine mission takes a strange turn they may have to deal with a threat from inside the kingdoms walls.


_**So this is a piece I did for the RWBY Big Bang challenge. Of course that means it gets some accompanying Artwork by Ieatedanimation found on their tumblr:**_ ** _post/157413334093/for-the-rwby-bigbang-event-these-are-based-of Also the source of the cover image._** _ **Set in an AU where huntsman/huntresses use Iron Man style Battle suits to fight the Grimm. Name comes from the original battle "suit" from the show. I won't keep you any longer then, enjoy!**_

* * *

Ruby sat on the ground, turning and twisting various parts of the device in her hands. "Penny," She called out to a seemingly empty room, "Do you think I could make this work if I had it run a feedback loop to build up before release, or would that just make it go all kablooey?"

"I would say that would just cause it to explode." Penny says, her voice coming from all around the room. "It would build pressure too fast is my belief. Perhaps if you did so but included a pressure sensitive trigger to turn the input off even when you're trying to use it? It could cause it to malfunction in combat, but would prevent it from exploding, which would render it useless anyway."

"Oh, that's not a bad idea. Right now it's just a weak stream, but I guess I could use it in bursts if I did that. I just can't find a way to push enough power through it continually without overheating it. If I vent then I lose power, ice dust just soaks it up too fast before running out or causes a reaction so it ices over, and a heat sink material just can't stand up to the output."

"I'm sorry, Ruby. I wish I could be of more help."

"No, it's fine. You're a lot of help." Ruby says, "Oh wait! What if I-"

"Hey Rubes!" Yang calls out, stopping in the doorway.

"Hey Yang, what's up?"

"We just got a call, latest mission. Getting pick-up on the roof in ten."

"Awesome, what is it?"

"Just some grimm getting a bit too close to the city, basic stuff." Yang says, "I'm gonna got tell Weiss and Blake. Remember, Weiss likes to be early, so…"

"Yeah yeah, I'll be there in a few." Ruby says, standing up and setting the chunk of metal and screws on the desk nearby.

"Sweet, see you there." Yang says and walks off.

"Alright Penny, you heard her." Ruby says. She brushes off the jeans she had on and rolls down her sleeves before wiping her hands on her pants.

"Yes I did, want me to get it now?" Penny asks.

"No, we've got about five minutes-ish before Weiss would get mad at us for being late, let's clean up first." She says, picking up tools and pieces of metal scattered around. Robotic arms from the ceiling and floor rose up to help, grabbing things and moving them to put them up. Once everything is put away Ruby moves back and looks it over.

"Clean enough to eat here, and I should know." Ruby says, "Okie dokie, Penny, suit me up!" She holds her arms out in a T pose.

"As you wish, Ruby." Penny says. The robotic arms shift then, moving to the sides of the room and bringing back with them red and black pieces of metal. Gauntlets adorned her hands, metal plates covered her chest and back, greaves placed on her legs, intricate pieces of technology in the form of body covering armor. In a matter of moments the armor covered her, the last piece being a helmet, covering her head. The visor came down and the suits power source came on, red lights running across the whole suit, the glowing rose emblem in the middle of her chest being the most prominent. Last was the glowing silver eyes on the visor. That part didn't actually do anything most of the time, she just thought it looked cool, though it could serve as a flashlight in the dark for people who didn't have night vision.

"Looks like we're good to go. All systems running normal?" Ruby asks.

"That they are, Ruby." Penny says through the speaker system in Ruby's helmet. "Everything is good, you are combat ready!"

"Awesome. Guess we're ready then." Ruby says. She rolls her shoulders, lifts her legs a bit, and does a few squats, getting comfortable in the armor. Of course she wouldn't have if anyone had been here, it looked ridiculous, but the only person who could see here was Penny.

"Shall I open the doors for you?" Penny asks.

"No thanks, I'll take the long way." Ruby says, "I've got a bit of time. Maybe I'll grab a snack on the way."

"Food is good for you, especially for energy." Penny says, "But remember to be careful not to let it fall into the suit, or it will be quite uncomfortable and difficult to remove."

Ruby lets out a small nervous laugh, putting one armored hand behind her helmet, like she would put a hand on the back of her neck. "Yeah, I remember that happening before, that wasn't a fun fight. Maybe I'll just skip the snack."

"Very well. Also, Weiss is already on the roof, so you should probably hurry."

"Oh, Thanks. How are Blake and Yang?"

"Just a moment." Penny says, and then pauses for a few seconds. "Yang has just donned her suit and should be making her way up soon. Blake is reading in her room. Should I give her a time warning?"

"No, not yet. She's usually on time. No need to disturb her. But if she still hasn't put her suit on at two minutes before pickup then you should."

"I can do that." Penny says, "And Weiss just contacted Yang to ask if she was ready yet."

"Ugh, she's always in such a hurry." Ruby says, slumping forward before walking off. She headed into the main part of the building and climbed the stairs, moving up towards the roof. "Call Weiss." She says, and a ring is heard for just a moment.

"Ruby, how did you-" Weiss starts.

"I'm already on my way, Weiss, just wanted to let you know before you called and asked."

"Oh, very good. Thank you." Weiss says, "We can link our suits then."

The call cuts off as Ruby keeps climbing. One of the perks of being a huntress, even in training was that each team got their own small place on campus. If the suits weren't so hard to use then perhaps more people could have been hunters, but as it was they were so limited that it came with quite a few benefits.

Finally she reached the roof, opening the door and stepping out into the light. Her visor adjusted immediately, filtering it slowly so her eyes could adjust and not be blinded. There in the center of the roof were Weiss and Yang, already waiting on her.

Weiss' suit wasn't unlike Ruby's. It was made of lightweight but strong metal, kept fairly small and close to Weiss' own size, painted white with touches of ice blue for accent. In the center of the chest was the Schnee snowflake symbol, glowing faintly with the dust inside. Weiss' suit was actually equipped with multiple types of dust, giving her a lot of versatility on the battlefield, though she had to sacrifice a bit of armor for it. She also had the latest in Atlesian technology, capable of scanning and searching the battlefield to always know what was where. As for weaponry, nothing was visible, but Ruby knew about the thin sharp blades hidden in the arms, which could even be detached to wield as a sword if Weiss wanted to.

Beside her was Yang, in her monstrous suit. Ember Celica, or as Yang sometimes called it, "The Grimm Buster" was a massive set of armor, at least comparatively. It added at least a foot to Yang's already impressive height, and was built like a tank, as broad as Weiss and Ruby standing side by side. Yellow with touches of brown and glowing red eyes, it was an imposing figure. The thick armor all over let her take hits from even some of the toughest Grimm, and hit back just as hard. The large shoulders and legs could charge through just about anything, and the oversized shotguns and flamethrowers built into her arms meant she could tear things up.

"Hey guys." Ruby calls out, her helmet opening up to let her talk as she walks over.

"There you are." Weiss says. She holds up an arm and touches a holographic keypad that comes up. "Just a moment and… There. All linked up." That was always the first thing to do, make sure they could communicate. Had she closed her helmet Ruby would have seen a display featuring both Weiss and Yang's vitals and GPS coordinates, though she didn't need that right now.

"So where's Blake at?" Yang asks, "Still reading?"

"She's right behind you." Came a voice from behind Yang.

"Gah! Don't do that!" Yang says, as Blake walks around. "How'd you even get out here?"

"I followed Ruby out." Blake says casually.

"I hate it when you do that, almost hit you."

"Be quiet, I'm linking hers in too, then she won't be able to do it again." Weiss says.

Ruby looked over at Blake as they waited for the pickup. Blake's suit was more similar to her own and Weiss' than Yang's. It fit Blake well, custom made for her just as all of their suits were. Each had features designed around their fighting styles and Blake's was no different. Though it was mostly pitch black, purple highlights lined the suit and were actually lights. They could glow in a unique way, blurring her image as she moved in order to confuse the enemy. They could also reflect things around them, allowing her to subtly cloak herself, though if you looked a bit you could still spot her, but that could be enough for her to slip in behind someone, especially in the heat of battle. She also had two blades hidden in her arms, a standard feature actually, though Blake's were unique. They were collapsible to form scythes instead of just swords, and attached to long chains that wrapped underneath the armor. She could fire them out like grappling hooks or swing them around.

"So, who's ready to kick some butt?" Yang asks with a grin.

"Oh, me!" Ruby says excitedly, "I've been working on a new trick I want to try."

"This isn't a game, Ruby." Weiss says, "Did you forget we're going to fight monsters? Monsters that want to kill us?"

"Well no, but I know we can take 'em."

"Even so, we still need to take every engagement seriously."

"Cut her some slack, Weiss. She's always serious once the fighting actually starts." Blake says.

"I suppose you're right. You'd think I'd be used to how casually the two of them treat humanity destroying monsters by now."

"You'd think, yeah." Yang says, "Guess we're just too unpredictable."

"Yes, that's it. It has nothing to do with the insanity of you enjoying being thrown into life threatening situations."

"Hey, just because we know how to enjoy ourselves doesn't mean we're crazy. You're just a prude."

"I am not. I'd just don't get a thrill out of it."

"Then why are you a huntress?" Blake asks, "Face it, whether we enjoy it as much as these two or not, none of use hate fighting. If we did we wouldn't be here."

"See, Blake's right. You love it." Yang says.

"That's not what she-" Weiss starts, but Ruby interrupts her.

"Uh guys, our ride is here." She says, pointing up. Above them an airship comes into view, descending from the clouds.

"Is everybody ready?" Weiss asks.

"I am." Blake says, closing her visor.

"Ready and pumped." Yang says, doing the same.

"Yep." Ruby says, closing hers as well. "Ready, Penny?"

"Of course, Ruby. I should be able to maintain contact during the entire fight." Penny says over the speakers in Ruby's helmet.

"Very well then." Weiss says, closing her visor as well. The airship descended down, hovering just beside the building as the ramp lowered down. The four of them walked into it, Yang taking one side while Blake, Weiss, and Ruby took the other.

"I wish we could just fly there on our own." Ruby says.

"Not all of us can fly though, Sis." Yang points out.

"Not my fault you got boring armor."

"My armor is awesome and you know it. Weren't you the one who wanted to help design it?"

"Anyway." Weiss cuts in, "Even if we all could, it would be a waste. Our suits don't have a limitless power supply after all."

"I know, but it's so much more fun!" Ruby complains.

"Fun isn't important. Your armor is not a toy."

"Maybe yours isn't. Mine has games on it."

"Yours has WHAT?" Weiss asks in shock.

"Yeah, I copied some games to it for when I get bored. I've got Ultimate Huntsman Battle 2, Reaper of Grimm, Merciless Dancers, Ninja Revolution, Knock-Out Punch, and Tetris." She lists off.

"You're wearing a highly expensive, state of the art, custom built combat suit designed to defeat man eating monsters and protect the city of Vale, and you put games on it."

"Yep!"

"We're all going to die." Weiss says and lets out a sigh, putting her head in her hand with a small clink of metal on metal. Yang's laughter and even a small chuckle from Blake could be heard through the speakers in their helmets.

…

"Ruby, it appears you're nearly over the drop zone." Penny says.

"Sweet." Ruby says, "Hear that guys?"

"Yeah we all got that one." Yang says, "Looks like it's time to show them why you don't mess with Vale."

"Everyone ready then?"

"Obviously." Weiss says.

"Alright then." Ruby says as the ramp lowers again, showing the ground well below them, "Team RWBY, out!" With that she runs at the open cargo door, jumping out of it. As she fell down she turned, falling feet first and activating her jets on her hands, feet, and even a couple on her back, slowing her descent so she didn't land too hard.

While beside her Weiss and Blake landed in a similar way, Yang didn't have that option, not that she would have taken it. Her heavy suit came crashing down, landing with a crater-forming boom. "Where are they? Bring 'em on!" She says.

"According to the last location and speed the Grimm should be approaching from the south, directly ahead. They will be on location in approximately five minutes. I suggest either preparing now, or increasing the distance between the battle and Vale by meeting them." Penny says.

"Why not both?" Ruby says, "Weiss, see what you can do with dust. Ice floors, stone walls, whatever. Yang, you play goalie. Be ready to work as a fence if any try to get past. Blake, you're with me. We'll run ahead to buy them a little time, see if we can slow them down."

"Got it." Came three voices over the speaker.

Ruby fired up the jets on her suit and took off, flying right in the direction the grimm were coming from. Her heads-up-display told her Blake was doing the same right beside her. "We want to focus on slowing them down and distracting them here." She explained, "This isn't the final blow, if you think you're going to get hit back out and recover. We'll focus on actually stopping them once we regroup with Weiss and Yang."

"Right." Blake answers, falling quiet.

It only takes them a few minutes to cover the distance with their speed and they pull up, finally getting a look at what they'd be facing. "Wow." Ruby lets out quietly as she sees the grimm. They move like a wave, a writhing mass of darkness with flecks of white and red as they rush forward towards the city.

"I've never seen so many grimm in one place." Blake says.

"Penny." Ruby says, her voice stern, "Call Ozpin. Tell him we need back-up. Now. Send him, and Weiss and Yang, a video feed."

"Very well, Ruby. Calling them all now."

Just a few seconds later Yang's voice came through the speakers. "Holy crap. You need some help up there Ruby? You okay?"

"We're fine." Ruby says, "We haven't started yet. Just… be ready, okay? I've already sent word to Ozpin, but this one's going to be tough."

"We'll do our best here." Weiss says, "Try and make a bigger blockade. You two stay safe."

"We will. Heading in now." Ruby says. She lands ahead of the grimm a bit and reaches behind her. Attached to her back between the jets was a large rectangular piece that she detached. Holding it out she felt the weight shift as it transformed, extending out into a large scythe. She planted the blade in front of her, pointing the barrel of the rifle at the mass of grimm. She didn't even bother aiming as she pulled the trigger.

"I don't think that's going to do very much." Blake says.

"Hey if it gets a few then that's just a few less we have to fight." Ruby says, "I've got a better idea though." She reaches up to her side and a chamber opens up, pushing out a clip that she switches onto the scythe rifle. "Let's see how they like this."

She pulls the trigger again and fires into the horde. Only this time a large explosion erupts when it hits, though even that didn't seem to put a dent in the number of grimm. "Been wanting to use that one. Just wish it did more." She pulled the trigger again, and again. Round after round she fired into the approaching grimm, setting off one explosion after the other, but there were always more to take the place of those that fell.

As she ran out she switched clips again. "Alright, time for the fun part." She says. "You ready?"

"Ready and waiting." Blake says. She throws her arms down at her sides and two blades unsheathe themselves, extending out of her wrists.

"Go!" Ruby calls out. Once more she fires off the rockets attached to her back and feet, and rushing forward with her scythe raised. She brought it down on the first grimm she reached, a Beowulf, slicing through it with ease. She kept her momentum up, following through with the swing into a spin, cutting through even more. As some rushed towards her she jumped and flew up into the air to get away. She expected them to keep coming after her, but they ignored her and ran on ahead.

"Dang it, if only I could have gotten that to work. Be really useful right now." She says, looking down. She couldn't even see the ground through all the grimm. Scanning the field she managed to find Blake, but only because of her suit being connected. The black suit blended in and the flowing light blurred her image. Grimm fell around her but it looked like she was trying to fight off a river.

"This isn't working. We need a new plan." Ruby says, looking around. Nothing on them was powerful enough for a horde of grimm that big. "Something's wrong. Why aren't they fighting?" She asked aloud, mostly to herself. "Blake, break off."

Blake jumps, slicing an ursa on the way, and hovers above the grimm. "What's going on?" She asks.

"I don't know. Weiss, Yang, we have a problem."

"You mean other than the massive horde of grimm headed our way?" Weiss asks.

"Um, no?" Ruby says, "It's just, they're ignoring us. Like they're so intent on getting to the city they don't even see us."

"Okay that is weird." Yang comes in, "I've never heard of a grimm passing someone up."

"Yeah, it's odd. Maybe we can use this though. That wall, stop. Make spikes instead. Trees, ice, rock, whatever. If they're that focused they'll just run right into it and stab themselves instead of trying to break it down."

"You got it, Sis. One grimm kabob coming up."

"Good. Penny, reinforcement status?"

"An airship is inbound with reinforcements. Team JNPR will be joining us in a few minutes." Penny chimes in.

"Awesome, that'll help a lot. Especially Nora. Do you think you can make it?"

"I'm sorry Ruby, but you were right before the mission. My signal would be weak. I'm afraid I'd be more of a hazard than a help."

"That's alright Penny, just had to ask. Now what do we do?"

"Hit them from behind while they're distracted." Blake says, "It won't slow them down, but we weren't anyway. We can do that without risk of being run over."

"Not as fun as actually fighting, but I guess it works." Ruby says, "Let's go." She flies down, moving behind the grimm that ran underneath them to the back of the group. She landed and ran with the grimm, swinging her scythe. She cut through them like wheat, cutting apart creepers, ursi, beowulves, and other grimm of varying sizes. Even the typically armored deathstalkers fell easy when she could cut off their legs without them fighting back.

"Guys we're almost to you, are you ready?"

"We've got some nice spikes waiting for them. Ice Queen even set up a little skating rink for them right in front of it." Yang says.

"Good thinking. Team JNPR is on the way too, if we can hold up for a bit they should lend us a hand."

"I'd think they'd lend us eight hands."

Ruby could practically hear the grin in Yang's tone and let out a small chuckle. "As long as a couple of them are Nora's we should be able to do a lot of damage."

"Oh yeah, she's going to have a great time with this."

"So are you. Those flamethrowers will be handy."

"Oh, is my 'boring armor' starting to impress now?"

"Still can't fly though, so nyeh." Ruby says, sticking out her tongue even though she knew Yang couldn't see it.

"Will you two stop? We're in the middle of a fight." Weiss says.

"And we're in the middle of a conversation." Yang says.

"Not for long." Weiss says, "Look."

"Wow it looks even bigger when you see it." Yang says.

"Looks like we're here. Let's break off and join them." Ruby says, moving up and flying over the horde of grimm, Blake following behind. She landed beside Yang and Weiss and turned back to face the grimm. "Yang, fire!"

Yang stepped forward, a thud sounding with each step and held out both arms, palms out. Then fire shot from them, long streams of it just as the grimm got into range. She moved her hands, spreading the wave of fire as the grimm kept charging until they were almost on her, then she started swinging. Shotgun blasts fired off with each punch, smaller grimm bounced off of her armor as they tried to run through her. She stood like a golden statue in the middle of the black sea.

"Checkmate!" Ruby called out, and Weiss and Blake rushed forward. They flowed around one another, black and white suits contrasting as they moved. As one cut down a grimm another would take its place, only to be cut down as well. "Yang, Weiss! Falling Meteor!" Ruby called out the next attack.

Weiss jumped away and landed beside Yang, planting her sword into the ground. A spire of stone shot up beneath Yang's feet. As it rose Yang jumped, she couldn't fly but she could jump well. Combined with the speed of the launch she rose high up, and then came back down. She set off the flamethrowers as she fell, diving towards the ground. Along with the fire she activated a small bit of other dust kept just for things like this. She impacted the ground, slamming her fist into it with shaking force. The fire and earth dusts both activated, causing the crater to spread outward, tearing up the ground and many grimm with it.

"Ruby, reinforcements are here." Penny said, causing Ruby to look up. Sure enough an airship had arrived. She also saw above it some nevermores had arrived, headed for the city.

"We got birdies!" She called out, and then her next attack. "Ice Flower!" She dropped down to one knee, pointing her scythe upwards. As the area between her and the grimm began to fog over from what she knew to be ice dust she fired. Her bullet gathered it and impacted a nevermore, freezing it's wing and causing it to fall. She kept firing, striking the winged beasts and bringing them down, though she knew she wasn't killing them.

"Blake, finish them! We need to keep them off the airship so they can open up!" Ruby called out, trusting Blake to kill the grounded birds. "Yang, don't let her get trampled."

"Like I'd let that happen." Yang says.

Ruby pauses in her shots to swing at a Beowulf that tried to trample her, cutting it in half and then decapitating a creeper before firing again. Her HUD went off, alerting her to a bigger nevermore to her left. She looks over, seeing one easily twice the size of the ones she'd been picking off. "Oh crap." She says.

Luckily she doesn't have to figure out what to use to beat it as two shapes come out of the airship. A bronze and red power suit, followed by a green one. They fly over and start fighting midair, soon clipping one wing and sending it plummeting on top of other grimm below it.

"Looks like the cavalry has arrived." Yang calls out as she wades through grimm, swinging massive fists. "Got it yet, Weiss?"

"Kind of busy here!" Weiss says as she fights as well, she stabs one, then another, and with a wave of her hand her suit glows, sending a series of ice spikes out to impale others.

"Penny, link us in if you can." Ruby calls out, she fires the rockets on her feet and rushes forward, swinging the scythe, taking out at least two with each swipe of the large blade.

"Very well, Ruby." Penny said, cheerful as ever. "It's taking a bit longer than usual but it should be there right about… now."

"Can you guys hear me?"

"Hello, Ruby." Pyrrha says, "We can hear you clearly."

"Yay, glad you're here. Please tell me Nora came fully equipped."

"You bet I did!" Nora said over the speakers, her excitement clear. "Save some for me!"

"Oh there's plenty." Yang says. She grabs two beowulves by their heads and slams them together.

A loud crack draws Ruby's gaze and she looks over at the wall of ice and stone, now with a spiderweb of cracks running through it. "They're breaking through the barricade!"

"Come on, come on, come on." Nora chants impatiently, "YEAH!" Then a loud boom echoes as Nora finally manages to enter the battlefield. Despite Nora herself being small, the suit was only about half a foot shy of Yang's in height. It made up for that through the attachments though. The pink and white armor had a pair of large cannons mounted on it, one on each shoulder. Wrapped around the wrists were missile launchers containing the same small missiles Ruby had one each of in the arms of her suit, though Nora's held a dozen each. Then, attached like a backpack, was another missile array, this time containing another two dozen of somewhat larger ones. All of them were detachable once she'd used up the armament, though she rarely did given that she had enough firepower to level a small village.

"Oh this is gonna be awesome! Eat rockets!" She cries out as braces herself, holding her arms forward. From her wrists she lets loose every single shot she has, finally putting a serious dent in the grimm. The shoulder mounted cannons begin firing repeatedly, cutting through the grimm with ease. Then she lets loose her entire arsenal of rockets from her back, smoke trails forming as they flew every which way, creating dozens of explosions.

"I have GOT to get me some of those." Yang says.

"You mean some of these?" Ruby asks. She raises one arm and the missile comes up, firing off at the largest grimm she could find, a deathstalker. It strikes dead center, leaving an empty space where its head had been.

"I didn't know you had those, no fair!"

"I only got two." She pauses to swing once, cutting through a beowulf, and then kicks a creeper aside, "So I like to save them."

A loud howl came out from a beowulf, interrupting the talk, and things took a turn for the worse. Whatever had been affecting them seemed to have disappeared, and the remaining grimm had begun attacking. Yang punched an ursa in the face, smashing its skull, and then pulled a Beowulf off of her back.

"This is bad." Ruby says, cutting through a few grimm. "We're right in the middle of them." She strikes down two more and kicks one aside, then sees one jump at her from the other side, only to be cut in half.

"Hey, Ruby." Jaune says, swinging his sword at another. Despite its age his white and gold armor still holds up fairly well on the battlefield. Unlike the others his suit was a relic from the Great War. It was made of heavier, thicker metals and had a shield attached to the left arm, making it durable but not sizable, though it lacked some of the abilities the more modern suits had.

"Hey, Jaune. How's it going?"

"Oh you know, hah, just being overwhelmed by grimm as soon as I arrive."

"Yeah I," She swings and fires, cutting through two and blowing off another's head, "I know what you mean."

"We need a way to do more." She says, "I'm going up!" She flies up, hovering above the battlefield. If they could pack more weapons onto a single suit then being able to fly would be a real tactical advantage, however given limited power supply and weapon weight all it did was take her out of the fight. "Okay Ruby we need a plan come up with a plan. Got it. Bumblebee go!"

Blake doesn't hesitate, jumping away from her fight and firing both her chains at Yang. The armored suit isn't even phased by the force of them as Yang catches them in her hands and pivots, swinging the smaller suit around. When she lets go Blake flies forward and spins as well, her chain blades ripping through grimm in a large path.

"Weiss, wind. Yang, Fire." Ruby called out. Weiss threw out both arms, air dust creating a current of wind. Yang met it with streams from her flamethrowers, feeding off the wind and following it, burning through even more.

Jaune then came in, following Ruby and calling out a team attack as well. "Ren, Nora, Flower Power!"

"Understood." Ren responds. He flies into the air towards Nora, who grabs a Beowulf and throws it at him. He slices through it and circles around above her, cutting through more as Nora sends them flying into the air.

"Alright guys, we're almost there, let's finish them off." Ruby says, "Team RWBY, full power, burn some dust." She folds her scythe and reattaches it to her back and flies down as her suit glows a bit brighter, along with the rest of her team. She never touches the ground, flying through and striking at everything within range. Her enhanced strength sends her fist through grimm almost as easily as her blade.

She loses herself in the frenzy, focusing only on her immediate surroundings, which were mostly grimm. Operating on instinct she fights her way through, letting her training and armor work together to dispatch every grimm in sight until there weren't anymore.

"Well…" Yang says, "That was actually a bit anticlimactic."

"Yeah, was kind of hoping to finish them with a big move." Ruby says, "Or maybe have them merge into one super grimm that we all had to fight together. That'd be cool."

"Personally I'll take cannon fodder over a super grimm. Tedious though it may be, at least it's less likely to result in the end of Vale, and our lives." Weiss says.

"Big or small, we won, and that's what is important." Pyrrha says.

"I guess so." Ruby says, "Oh, and thanks for the help. We didn't really have the arsenal to handle that on our own."

"No problem, glad to help." Jaune says.

"Yeah, especially since I got to use all of it!" Nora adds, "I blew up so many grimm. It was sweet!"

"Totally. I think I saw an ursa just get obliterated." Yang says.

"Ruby, I hate to interrupt, but your suit is running low on power." Penny chimes in.

"Huh? Oh wow it is." Ruby says, "Signaling the pickup now. How about you guys, you low?"

"A little." Blake says.

"Oh yeah, I'm super low." Yang says, "Switching into power saver mode kind of low."

"I'm doing fine." Weiss says.

"Of course you are, you could power a small city with all the dust on that thing."

"A small village actually, one of approximately four hundred people."

"Holy crap I was just kidding. Dang Princess, share a bit."

"There's plenty of dust to go around. Perhaps you should just carry more in that monstrosity of yours."

"Hey this 'monstrosity' has taken blows for that little soda can you call a suit."

"Excuse me, this is the latest in Atlesian grimm suppression technology."

"It's thin and will explode if you hit it in the right spot, especially if you shake what's inside a bit. Sounds like a soda can."

"Guys, our ride is here." Ruby interrupts, pointing at the landed airship. "Wow, déjà vu."

"Good, I wanna go home. I could use some food. My suit isn't the only thing needing a refill." Yang says as she boards the ship, team JNPR already on board.

"Okay it's not just me." Ruby says, as she, Weiss, and Blake board as well. "I'm starving."

"Great, we can all go get some lunch once we land."

"You do realize we have debriefing first right?" Weiss adds.

"Dang."

…

"Ahhh." Ruby let out a contented sigh and stretched her arms. "That's better."

"I thought you liked being in your suit though?" Weiss asked as the team of them walked towards Ozpin's office, having just left their suits behind to be repaired and refilled.

"I do, but it's like changing into your pajamas. Even if you like your clothes, PJ's are better."

"I suppose that makes some kind of sense."

"Of course it does. Softer, lighter, lets the skin breath. Having a flying suit is fun, but normal clothes are more comfy."

"Can't argue with that. That thing is kind of exhausting. There's a reason not everyone can use them." Yang says, and then looks over as they walked, "Hey what's that?"

"That's a… oh wow." Ruby says. On a large push cart hovering just above the ground was a large, metallic gray machine. She rushes over to it and looks up. "It's a Mark I Paladin." She says in awe.

"A what now?" Yang asks.

"Paladin was the first model of mechanized combat suits." Blake says, "Their efficiency in combat is what led to the study of more advanced combat suits and the hunters we have today."

"You sound like you read that out of a book." Yang says, and then pauses for a moment. "Oh wait, you probably did. Nevermind."

"I never thought I'd see one in real life. Most of them were destroyed or salvaged." Ruby says, walking around it and staring up.

"There are only six left in the entire world." Weiss says, and smirks a bit, "My family owns one of them."

"The only one in Atlas, which they have repeatedly refused to donate to the museum." Blake points out.

"That part isn't my fault." Weiss says.

"Uh, Ruby," Yang says, "I think you're drooling."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Ruby says, standing up straight and giving a nervous laugh. She wiped her chin to see if she actually was, but of course Yang was kidding. "It's just so cool. The first suit. The reason we're here. You got to appreciate the classics. I mean, look at the design."

"Nerd."

The sound of someone clearing their throat drew their attention and the girls turned around. "Oh, hey Goodwitch." Yang says, receiving a glare in return that made her wish she was still in her suit.

"Professor Ozpin is waiting." Glynda says, adjusting her glasses. She turns and walks away with them following. Eventually they reach the office and she opens the door, leading them in. The room is open, large windows showing the city of Vale below, gears turning beneath a clear floor, and a desk with four chairs placed in front of it.

Ruby walked up and sat down in the chair on the far left. Weiss took the seat next to her, sitting with her hands in her lap. Blake went one over and sat down, crossing her arms. Yang took the last one on the farthest right, hopping backwards into it. "So, Oz." She says, "What the hell was that out there?"

"Ms. Xiao Long!" Goodwitch chastises.

"It's fine, Glynda." Ozpin says, holding up a hand to calm her. "They did encounter something far more than I prepared them for."

"I'll say, if Ruby hadn't decided to go ahead and try and thin them for us we'd be grimm chow right now."

"I am aware, and I do apologize. I did not expect such a large number of grimm. Though it does help reaffirm my decision to make Ms. Rose team leader, not that I was doubting that decision anyway."

Ruby gives a nervous laugh and scratches her neck. "Heh, thank you, Sir."

"Now, as for the rest of your encounter, what can you tell me about the odd behavior of the grimm?"

"Oh, right." Ruby focuses, "They were really weird for a bit. Usually grimm attack anybody they can sense, but these ones seemed to ignore us, for a while at least."

"It was like we weren't even worth bothering with." Yang adds.

"I see." Ozpin says, steepling his fingers. "What is most interesting is that you aren't the only ones to encounter this."

"We weren't?" Weiss asks, "What do you mean?"

He presses a few buttons on his desk, bringing up a holographic map of Vale and the surrounding area. Three lights came up on it, one denoting the area team RWBY had their encounter. "While you and team JNPR fought here, two other groups were sent out to deal with a sudden spike in grimm activity. Like you, a large number of grimm were present and ignored them, moving directly toward Vale. Then, at exactly the same time as with you, the grimm ceased this and resumed normal behavior."

"So… What does that mean?" Ruby asks.

"Something was drawing them in." Blake answers.

"Ms. Belladonna is correct. Something was acting to draw the grimm in, like a powerful grimm magnet." Ozpin says.

"What could do such a thing?" Weiss asks.

"Our current theory is… negativity." Ozpin explains, "It's common knowledge that grimm are drawn to negative emotions. We believe something caused the grimm to pick up on negativity too small for them to usually detect and brought them in. We also believe this was intentional, and merely a test, given that the grimm stopped suddenly."

"So what, someone built a sadness ray and shot it at the grimm to draw them in, but stopped when they realized it worked?" Yang summarizes.

"In a sense, yes. Though it doesn't necessarily have to be sadness they're amplifying. Anger, fear, grief, all of those and more work as well."

"That's insane." Weiss says, "Why on Remnant would anyone do such a thing?"

"We may be in a time of peace, Ms. Schnee, but not everyone wishes good for the kingdoms."

"So, what do we do?" Ruby asks, "Find them and stop them?"

"Precisely. If we do not, then they could use this to bring an untold number of grimm upon the kingdom. That is where your team comes in."

"Whatever you need, Prof. Just point me at the bad guys and I'll smash them flat." Yang says, punching her fists together and grinning.

"And we will be sure to do that." Ozpin says, "However first we must locate them. For that we would like the help of Ms. Schnee."

"Of course Professor, I'm glad to help in any way I can." Weiss says, holding her head up high at them needing her help.

"Thank you. We will need to borrow your suit for some time. We hope we can detect whatever signal attracted the grimm and pinpoint its source. Having advanced Atlesian scanners like the ones from you suit tied into our own systems could do wonders for augmenting our search."

"Oh, right." Weiss says, doing a surprisingly good job of hiding her disappointment, though some still shown through. "You can borrow it for as long as you like."

"Thank you again. Until we are through with it the four of you can rest. It might be some time, hours or even days, before we find what we're looking for, so enjoy some time to yourselves."

"We will, Sir." Ruby says as the team stands up. "Thank you." They turn to leave, starting in single file but walking in a group once out the door.

"So, food?" Yang suggests.

"Food." Comes three voices of agreement.

…

"Twenty seven… twenty eight… twenty nine aaaannnnddd thirty." Ruby counted off, looking down at Yang who was laying on her back. She took a step back as Yang put the bar back, sitting up and wiping her forehead off with a towel.

"Only thirty?" Blake asks as she sat on the floor nearby, her legs stretched out and a book between them as she leaned forward over it. "More weight or just a less strenuous?"

"Just relaxing. Since Ozpin hasn't found the sadness gun or whatever it is I figure it's better to keep a bit in reserve." Yang answers, grabbing a bottle of water and opening it before taking a drink.

"Smart." Blake says, adjusting her position for a different set of stretches.

"Speaking of which," Weiss adds from her spot on a nearby bench, "have any of you heard any news on that? I'd like to know when I can get my armor back."

"Sorry, Weiss, nothing yet." Ruby says, "But if it helps, I'm almost done with something super cool for the suits, so when you get it back we can make it even more awesome!"

"Oh yeah, that thing you were tinkering with the other day." Yang says, "Almost done then?"

"Yep, Penny's putting the final touches on my suit right now." Ruby says with a smile.

"Good lord, what have you built now?" Weiss asks, "This one isn't going to explode is it? Because last time you built something like this we had to replace an entire room. Glynda was not happy."

"Well I hope it doesn't." Ruby says, "That's kind of what I spent the last few days fixing."

"I'm sure she has it under control, Weiss. I mean, she managed to integrate an AI into our house, I think she can manage an upgrade to her suit." Blake says, leaning back and relaxing.

"She also managed to turn our toaster oven into a broiler, somehow. We all know how well that ended."

"Hey that one wasn't my fault, you're the one who messed it up." Ruby protests.

"That thing shot flames! My sandwich was cremated."

"It was supposed to do that, you're the one who turned it up."

"Alright guys, calm down." Yang says, stopping them. "So Ruby, what's the upgrade?"

"Oh, you'll have to wait and see." Ruby says, smiling and putting her hands behind her back. "It's awesome though. You're gonna want one."

"Come on, Ruby, don't be like that, now I just want to know more." Yang says.

"Perhaps I can help." Penny says over the speakers. "The install is completed if you'd like to try it out."

"Sweet!" Ruby says, "Come on guys, let's go!" She runs over the door, hoping from one foot to the other as she waits on them. They do follow behind, with Ruby skipping ahead the whole way, leading down to the workshop. As they arrived she skipped over to the table where the arm from one of her suits was laying.

"Is that it?" Yang asks, gesturing to the wires coming out of it, connecting it to a small box.

"No, that's just a power source so I don't have to put on the whole suit. Also my next project, hoping I can make one for each part of the suit and integrate it in." Ruby explains as she puts on the gauntlet.

"That's actually quite a good idea. Why didn't you do that first?" Weiss asks as they move to stand behind Ruby.

"Because I was working on this." Ruby says, "I had it wired to work through the flight stabilizer so I don't have to modify much, but check it out. Penny, target." A robotic arm from the ceiling holds down a small circle, white with a red dot in the center. Ruby points the glove at it and focuses. Then a blast fires from the palm of the glove, sending Ruby flying backwards and creating a dust cloud as it tears through the target and puts a dent in the thick wall on the other side.

"Ruby!" Yang calls out and braces herself, catching her sister as she flies backwards. "Are you alright?"

"Hehe." Ruby lets out a small laugh, "Wow. Yeah I'm fine, just thinking I should have put the suit on." She stands up as Yang lets go of her.

"So it was supposed to do that?" Weiss asks, gesturing at the hole in the wall.

"Uhh, yes?" Ruby says, "I didn't expect it to be that powerful though. Even better than I thought it would be."

"Was that an energy blast?" Blake asks, looking at the wall, and then at Ruby. "Don't you usually need specially made dust focused weapons for that?"

"Yep." Ruby says, hopping a bit and grinning. "I managed to figure out how to take the suits stabilizers though, since they already use dust power, and run it through them. So now I got energy blasters!"

"That sounds extremely dangerous." Weiss says.

"And super awesome!" Yang adds.

"I'm just impressed you managed to do that." Blake says.

"Well I had help from Penny." Ruby says.

"Ruby, I have additional information if you'd like to hear it." Penny says at her name.

"Sure, go ahead."

"The blast is quite powerful, however I have managed to take your ideas on dust energy projection and flow to use the minimal amount of power while maintaining force, so you should be able to use it quite a bit, though I would suggest not doing so if you want to conserve."

"Alright, can do. Anything else?"

"Yes, I installed a limiter that you can control in order to allow for weaker blasts should you need them. However I noticed another function of this. At a full charge you can sustain a blast of seventy three percent power for up to 3.67 seconds if you would like an extended beam."

"Penny you are the BEST!" Ruby says, jumping up and down in excitement. She looks at the gauntlet and inspects it a bit. "Let's see, this is like this so… got it." She points it at the wall again. "Yang can you brace me?"

"On it, Sis." Yang stands behind Ruby, putting her hands on her to keep her from flying back.

"Ready… go!" Ruby says and fires a blast. It holds a beam for a few seconds, 3.67 to be exact, and then fades out.

"Okay, you're right. I have _got_ to get me one of those." Yang says.

"Penny?" Ruby asks.

"I am already in the process of manufacturing more. There should be three additional units by tomorrow." Penny says.

"Ruby was right, you're awesome." Yang says.

"Thank you, Yang. I'll install it on your suit first."

"Hey!" Weiss says.

"Don't complain, Weiss." Blake says, "Yours isn't even here so you can't get it."

"I just didn't know the AI could play favorites." Weiss says.

"You're focusing too much on the 'A' and not enough on the 'I'." Ruby says, "She still has a personality."

"Yes, I know. Sometimes I just forget since I don't see a face." Weiss says.

"Well I think you should apologize for that." Ruby says, crossing her arms.

"You're kidding."

"Nope."

"I'm with Ruby, don't think less of Penny just because she doesn't have a body." Yang says.

"They're not wrong." Blake says.

"Fine." Weiss says, and looks at the ceiling. "Penny, I'm sorry for referring to your as 'the AI' and for forgetting you're a person."

"Thank you, Weiss. It's okay. At least you knew to forget. Most people don't." Penny says.

"Well I'll do my best not to forget again."

"Good, all made up." Ruby says, taking the wires off of her gauntlet. "Now Penny, can you suit me please?"

"Of course, Ruby." Penny says.

"Why are you putting your suit on?" Weiss asks.

"I wanna run some practice with my new weapon. Get used to it, learn how to balance it with more normal fighting, feel how it works in my suit when I won't get blasted back." Ruby explains as her suit is placed on, the helmet fitting on last with the visor open.

"You mean you want to blow stuff up." Blake says.

"Yeah that too." Ruby says, "That's just a bonus though. You guys wanna watch? Might help for when you get them."

"Sounds cool, I'm in." Yang says.

"I suppose I can join. I can watch and read at the same time." Blake says.

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass." Weiss says, "I need to contact Ozpin about my own suit. I'd like to know if he has an idea when I'll be getting it back. I know they don't have the same technology but honestly it's starting to get upsetting. I don't like not having it around in case I need it."

"You could always get a back-up." Ruby says, "Won't help now, but it would be good to have a second suit for times like this."

"I suppose it would be. Why didn't we do that before?" Weiss asks.

"I did." Ruby says, "This is my third suit actually. Crescent Rose Mark Two! The first one was called Iron Rose. Technically this is just my latest model but I still have the old ones."

"Oh, well anyway you three can go do what you were doing. I'll contact Ozpin, and then I might see if I can get the process for a new suit. That seems like it would take a while."

"Alright. Penny, doors." Ruby says. She only has to wait a moment as the wall on one side of the workshop opens up, splitting in half to reveal itself to be a set of doors. "Meet you there, and see you later Weiss." She says and gets a running start before firing off the boosters and flying through the open doors.

…

"Hey Weiss." Ruby says, coming up behind her as Weiss sat on the couch looking at her scroll. "I got you something." She circles around to stand in front of Weiss with her hands behind her.

"Oh joy, I'm sure this will be good." Weiss says and rolls her eyes, setting down her scroll.

"It will." Ruby says, pouting a bit. Then she smiles again and holds out her hands, in front of them, a roll of paper in them. She spreads it out to show it to her. "See, isn't it cool?"

"It's…" Weiss looks at it to make sure she's seeing what she thinks she is. "It's schematics for a combat suit."

"Yep. Penny and I have spent the past few days coming up with a new one for you since you said you don't like being without one. Mostly Penny, since she doesn't need sleep and all."

"You're kidding. You designed an entire suit in a few days?" Weiss says, looking up at her skeptically.

"Yeah, though we based it on your current suit so that helped. It's more an upgrade than a new one. I had Penny analyze the records of your fights, and she came up with a few points on your style, suit functions, and stuff like that. Then I came up with ways to improve it based on that."

"That's actually quite impressive." Weiss says, "I was turned down for an extra suit by Atlas. Apparently since I won't be going there more than one suit is too much. But this could help." She takes the paper, looking it over. "Thank you, Ruby." Then after a moment she looks at the ceiling, "And thank you too, Penny."

"You're welcome." Comes two simultaneous replies.

"Now I just need to figure out who-" Weiss starts but is cut off by her scroll buzzing. She sets down the paper and picks it up. "Hello? Oh really? Thank goodness. Yes, right away Sir." She closes her scroll and looks up at Ruby, "Ozpin is ready."

…

"So, what do you think's gonna happen now?" Yang asks as the four of them sat in Ozpin's office waiting on him.

"I'm assuming he'll give Weiss back her suit and tell us our mission." Blake says.

"Well yeah, I just meant like what's it gonna be?"

"My guess, search and destroy." Weiss says, "If they know where it is, all we have to do is take it out before it can draw in more grimm."

"Wouldn't surveillance and recon be better?" Ruby asks, "So we can figure out who did it? I mean, even if we smash it, if we don't get the bad guys can't they just build another?"

"She has a point." Blake says, "We don't know who did this after all."

"Yeah, I still hope we get to smash it either way." Yang says.

"Worry not, Ms. Xiao Long, there will be plenty of that." Ozpin says from behind them as he walks around to his desk and takes his seat. "I see you're all wondering what the plan is."

"Uh, yes Sir." Ruby says.

"Well allow me to enlighten you. It's quite simple. We've pinpointed the source of the signal that drew in the grimm, though it wasn't easy." He looks at Weiss, "Thank you for letting us borrow your suit, Ms. Schnee, it was invaluable in our efforts. Atlas technology truly is spectacular."

"Of course, Sir." Weiss says, "Anything to help."

"Now that we've located the source, Ms. Rose is correct, we need to determine the perpetrators. Whoever is behind such a scheme is a very large threat to Vale, as well as all the other kingdoms. Ms. Goodwitch and I will be working on determining anything we can through contacts, paper trails, and all the other boring work. The four of you will be working with team JNPR to do a stake-out of the building in question. Team JNPR will be taking the day shift and the four of you will keep an eye on it at night. My apologies if this is an inconvenience, but while team JNPR is quite skilled I do not believe Ms. Valkyrie or Mr. Arc are suited for a subtle, after dark operation."

"And Yang is?" Weiss asks, earning a small chuckle from Ruby and a smirk from Blake.

"Oh you're one to talk. Everything you own is so white it looks like your house got flooded with bleach." Yang counters.

"Hey! There's nothing wrong with my clothes. I look good in white."

"Just hope it doesn't snow or we might lose you."

"Ladies." Ozpin interrupts.

"Sorry Sir." Weiss apologizes, looking down.

"Anyway, I believe Ms. Xiao Long will do fine. Especially with the three of you on her team. Once you have located the ringleader behind these events, or believe you have, then contact us. Do not engage immediately. Of course, if you feel your own lives, or the lives of others are in danger then you can do what is necessary, but we would prefer to take this slow if possible. We don't want anyone getting away because we rushed this."

"I understand, Sir." Ruby says. "We'll do our very best."

"Yeah, we'll be fine." Yang says, "We've got Blake after all. Sometimes she's hard to see in the day. Nobody's gonna notice her at night."

"I do hope you're right." Ozpin says, "That will be all. You can return home and rest up. It's going to be, more than likely, a long few nights."

…

"Bye guys." Ruby says, waving to team JNPR. Their shift had just ended, with team RWBY arriving on a rooftop near the target to take over. "Alright, ready guys?" She asks, turning back to her own team.

"Of course. It's just watching." Weiss says. "We've been doing it for two days now, three today. I don't even know why we bothered bringing our suits."

"It's better to be over prepared than under." Blake says.

"I know, I just hate not doing anything." Weiss says.

"We are doing something, we're watching." Ruby says. "I know it's not the most active thing, but it has to be done."

"Still sucks." Yang says, "This is duller than that board game Jaune made up."

"No, no it's not." Ruby says, "Please don't make me remember that."

"Don't tell me you actually got dragged in to that." Yang says.

"Yeah." Ruby says, "Me, Pyrrha, and Ren. It was awful. If Nora hadn't come in we'd probably still be there."

"It can't be that bad."

"It composts in real time, Yang. Real time." Ruby says, almost sounding distressed.

"We've gotten off topic." Weiss says.

"Yeah, let's go back to normal boring." Yang says.

"Right." Ruby says, "Um, everybody knows their places?"

"Of course." Weiss says.

"Alright, Weiss, Yang, go. Blake, hold on a moment, I got something."

"See you Sis." Yang says, her suit thumping as she turned and jumped onto another roof nearby.

"Moving out." Weiss says, flying off.

"So what did you need?" Blake asks.

"Here." Ruby says. A compartment on the side of her suit near the ribs opens up and she pulls out a small case. "There's movement sensors in here. None of the rest of us could risk getting close enough to place them, but you might be able to. Don't take any chances, but try and place them around the target building if you can."

"Good idea. Is that all?"

"Yep, that's it."

"Alright, I'm going." She says and turns, running off the edge of the building, disappearing into the night as she falls.

…

"Come on… Come on…" Ruby whispered to herself, her focus intent. Just a little more and it would be perfect. Hours of waiting, patience, and practice would lead up to this moment. So of course an alarm sounded at exactly that second, causing her to flinch and mess up her perfect combo. "Dang it!" She shouted, and cleared the game away. "Penny?"

"It appears to be one of the alarms that Blake set." Penny answers.

"Uh, guys." Yang asks over the coms, addressing the whole team, "Why are my ears ringing?"

"It's an alarm." Ruby says, "That's what I had Blake stay behind for earlier. Penny, can you tell where it is?"

"It's coming from the northeast corner of the building." Penny says, "It appears someone is going in through the rear."

Yang lets out a snort of laughter. "Oh my gods, did you have to say it like that?"

"Really, Yang?" Weiss asks.

"I'm confused, what did I say?" Penny asks.

"Nothing." Ruby says, "Yang's just being a dork. Come on guys, focus. Blake, can you see anything?"

"Moving now." Blake says, "Alright, looks like a small group of people. Six of them, lightly armed. Hold on, zooming in." There's a short pause and then, "Wait… that guy. That's Roman Torchwick."

"Uh, Penny?" Ruby asks. A few seconds later an image of a mugshot appears on her HUD.

"Roman Torchwick. Notorious criminal known to operate in Vale and surrounding areas. Wanted for assault, theft, petty theft, grand theft, homicide, and attempted homicide. Known Associates, Neo Politan. Wanted on the same charges. Both are considered to be heavily armed and very dangerous at all times, despite appearances."

"Wow, okay." Yang says, "That really sounds like our guy."

"The Neo girl was with him too." Blake says, "And a few others, didn't recognize them. Basic armaments. Probably hired goons. I'm moving in for a closer look."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Weiss asks.

"Are you sure that's Weiss." Yang says.

Ruby gives a small laugh. "Just be careful, they might have sensors that can pick you up. There's a reason we haven't tried going in yet."

"I'm just going to get a look through the door when they walk through it." Blake says, "They're going in now. Focusing and enhancing… Dear gods."

Chills went down the spines of the other three. Hearing the tone, especially from Blake, was terrifying. "What is it?" Ruby asks.

"They've got captives." Blake says.

"You're sure?" Weiss asks.

"They're tied up and bloody." Blake says, "I only saw two from the angle but I'm sure there are more."

"We should call Ozpin." Weiss says.

"Already contacting him." Penny says.

"Didn't he say something about civilian lives being in danger?" Yang asks.

"We can wait thirty seconds." Weiss says.

"Hello? Ms. Rose?" Ozpin's voice comes over the coms.

"Hello Sir. We think we've found the guy. Roman Torchwick just entered." Ruby explains.

"That is very good news. Withdraw and regroup." Ozpin says.

"With all due respect, Sir." Ruby says, "Requesting permission to engage instead. Immediately."

"Care to explain that request?"

"Captives, Sir. Bound and injured. We'd like to save them, ASAP."

"Captives?" He says and pauses. "Of course, a source. Very well Ms. Rose. Your team may engage, with caution I might add. I'm sending two more teams to join you as well."

"Thank you, Sir." Ruby says. "Alright guys let's go. Weiss, back door, seal it so no one gets out. Then move to the front. We'll go in there."

"What about me and Blake?" Yang asks.

"You're the battering ram that opens the door, of course." Ruby says, "Blake, slip in behind us. Try not to be seen. Focus on getting the people out of danger while we fight them."

"I can do that."

"Alright, Team RWBY, go!" Ruby says. She flies down and waits in front of the front door, taking Crescent Rose off of her back. Weiss lands beside her a moment later, and then with a loud boom and the sound of cracking concrete Yang lands in front of them. She doesn't hesitate then, charging forward and plowing through the door like paper as she rushes into the building.

Ruby flies in behind Yang, getting her first look inside the building, which is pretty much just one big room. It's big, but mostly empty. Cages, also empty but with claw marks on the floors and bars, are scattered around the edges of the room. Beside but not in the cages are people, tied to the walls, most looking disheveled and somewhat bloodied from scratches, bites, and small cuts. In the center of the room was a large machine, reaching from the floor to the ceiling.

"Oh for fu-" Came a voice, which a quick look revealed to be Torchwick. "Someone kill them!"

The four men accompanying him, scattered through the room, all raised their weapons. Yang jumped over, grabbing the weapon from one of them and crushing it. He tried to run but she grabbed him by the arm. She bent one of the bars on a nearby cage and threw him in before bending it back, somewhat sloppily, so he couldn't get out.

Ruby fired off a shot, knocking the weapon out of another's hand before rushing forward and hitting him with the back of Crescent Rose, knocking him into a wall so he fell flat on the floor and didn't get up. The third was suddenly encased in ice from his feet to his shoulders, unable to move. Nobody saw what happened to the fourth and closest one, but he somehow ended up tied up where one of the captives used to be.

"Stupid cheap guards." Roman curses under his breath. "Neo, stop them please." He turns towards the machine in the center of the room and begins typing on a keyboard on it.

"Yang, stop her. Weiss, help Blake." Ruby calls out, and rushes towards him. She swings her scythe down at him from behind, but he turns and raises his cane, blocking the strike.

"Attacking with my back turned? That's not very huntressy, Red." He says.

Ruby takes one hand off of her scythe and punches forward, only for him to move to the side. Instead her fist goes through the console of the machine.

"Oh, too bad. How are you going to stop it now? It's already started."

"Already… PENNY!" Ruby calls out.

"I'm afraid it's a closed system, Ruby. I can't access it." Penny says.

"Guess I'll have to blow it up then."

"Ruby look out!" Someone calls and Ruby looks to her left. Roman had put some distance between them and she just had time to register he was aiming his cane when the shot came out. A dust burst, similar to the one she'd just installed on their suits, hit her square in the chest.

Thrown backwards she skidded across the concrete floor. "Ugh, damage report?"

"Primary power source damaged. Chest plate integrity reduced. Operating efficiency at 87%."

"Those are still butt kicking levels. Let's go."

"A little help over here?" Yang asks, causing Ruby to turn. Yang's fist hits the ground as the small woman dances out of the way. She follows that with a charge, only for Neo to jump over her and come down behind her. She draws a blade from her umbrella and stabs between the joints of the armor just behind the bend of the knee. "Dang it! She keeps doing that."

"Blake, help Yang. Weiss, on me." Ruby says, "Stop them, now!" She turns to see Torchwick had attempted to flee through the back door, only to find it sealed.

"Nice touch, but I'm not going to be caught that easy." He raises his cane and fires again, but this time Ruby is ready.

Raising her arm Ruby fires off a few bursts of her own, meeting his in midair. Then she rushes forward, scythe raised, to go on the offensive. She brought it down, around, up, and let it flow as she had practiced over and over. She was surprised when each hit was dodged or deflected by cane. Luckily she had back up.

She pressed her advantage, using the strength of her suit to force him to move backwards. She didn't have to hit him and didn't really try to, cutting a person in half wasn't something she wanted to see. As he moved back he didn't see Weiss waiting bit behind, and the ice floor she'd created. Stepping back on it he slipped and fell, barely blocking Ruby's last hit with his cane. With both hands holding up the weight of the scythe he couldn't do anything about Weiss' rapier pointed down at his face.

"Ice him." Ruby says.

Weiss touches her rapier to the ice floor, her suit glowing a pale blue as she activated the dust. It flowed through the blade and onto the floor, covering him from shoulder to feet and leaving him immobilized.

Looking back at Blake and Yang they saw the two of them not fairing as well against Neo. Yang's suit had been almost completely immobilized by the looks of how she moved. Blake pressed the offensive with high speed slashes, but seemed unable to land a hit.

Weiss and Ruby rushed over just as she dodged one of Blake's strikes, the four of them forming a square around her. She keeps a small smile on her face as she looks around at all of them, and then over at Roman.

"Give it up, you can't do anything now." Ruby says. She raises her arm towards the large machine and one of her rockets comes out of the top firing off towards it and exploding, leaving a large chunk of it missing. "Your thing is smashed too."

Neo simply looks at them again and winks. Then she bows low, holding her umbrella open above her. For a moment none of them know what she's doing, and then she vanishes from sight.

"What? Where'd she go?" Ruby asks, looking around. She opens the visor on her suit and looks as well, seeing no sign. "She vanished. Weiss?"

"I'm not getting anything either." Weiss says, "Nothing is picking her up in any direction."

"Camouflage." Blake says, "She must have a way of hiding herself from sensors, even our suits optics."

"Crap." Yang lets out, "Can't believe she got away."

"Forget it." Ruby says, "We need to make sure everyone is safe. Yang, ditch the suit for now. You can help better out of it."

"Got it." Yang says, the front of it opening up as she climbs out.

"Get anybody we can help. Make sure they're safe and not hurt. The other teams should be here soon to help with medical. Let's go." Ruby says. She clips her scythe to her back and walks off to see what she can do.

…

"I knew he'd screw up." Emerald says, her arms crossed. "I don't know why we relied on him in the first place."

"You rather be where he is?" Mercury asks, reclining in a chair with his hands behind his head.

"Oh shut it, you didn't like him either."

"Now now, calm down." Cinder says. "There's nothing to be worried about. It's a bit sooner than I expected, but that's not a problem. Everything is going just as planned."

"Nothing's changed?" Emerald asks.

"Not at all. The machine works, the huntsman and huntresses think they've solved their problem, and we are free to do as we please. Everything is going wonderfully."

"So what's next?" Mercury asks.

"Now we wait. The rest will come in time. For now, let them celebrate and think they've won."

…

"First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your victory." Ozpin says. "You four did a wonderful job. While I would have preferred the machine intact for study," He looks at Ruby, who ducks her head sheepishly, "you still managed to stop it before more grimm could attack the city. Not only that, you managed to capture the man behind it all and save numerous hostages as well."

"Thank you, Sir. Though I feel like we could have done better. I mean, we watched that place for days while those people were hurt." Ruby says.

"Plus that one that got away." Yang says.

"Do try not to worry about that." Ozpin says, "You had no way of knowing those people were in there. As soon as you did, you did your best to help them and keep them safe. I could ask for nothing more. As for Ms. Politan, well she is quite elusive. It's no wonder she managed to slip away. Nonetheless she was not the ringleader in this operation. You managed to apprehend him, and that is more than enough."

"We'll try not to dwell on it, Sir." Weiss says. "Will that be all?"

"Almost." He says, "One last thing. Ms. Rose." He looks at Ruby, "These schematics you submitted as potential improvements. They're quite good. We have our design team looking at possible improvements, but personally I don't see many to be made. Hopefully within a month or two it will be standard on all modern armors."

"Really?" Ruby says, leaning forward a bit.

"Really. It's quite the innovation. It might even end up named after you."

"Wow." Ruby says, her eyes going wide.

"Awesome! Way to go, Sis." Yang says.

"Quite impressive." Weiss says with a small smile.

"Good job, Ruby." Blake says.

"I'm just glad I could help make the suits better." Ruby says.

"Well, you certainly have." Ozpin says, "We thank you for it. Now that will be all, you may go."

The four of them stand up and make their way out of the office and start heading for the front of the building. "Well, guess we gotta celebrate now." Yang says, "Ruby's got people liking her work and we just took down the biggest threat to Vale."

"Do we have to?" Ruby asks, "I mean I'm kind of like, really tired."

"I haven't slept well in three days." Weiss says, "I'm not nocturnal."

"We could always celebrate another time. Like this weekend. Maybe invite team JNPR, they were quite the help after all." Blake says.

"Good plan." Yang says, "So what's up for tonight then?"

"Relaxing." Ruby says.

"Sounds good. Team movie night and hitting the hay early?" Yang suggests.

"That could work. What kind of movie?" Blake asks.

"Action!" Ruby says.

"I've had enough action for now." Weiss counters.

"Horror." Yang says.

"I just saw people tied up." Ruby says, "Plus I want to sleep well."

"Comedy?" Blake says.

"Perfect." Yang says.

"I'll bring snacks." Ruby says.

"Bring more than sugar." Weiss says.

"I'll bring half the snacks." Ruby corrects.

Ruby pushes the front door open as they finally make it, the moon high above and full, shining down on the quiet city as they walk out into the night. She looks up at the moon and stars as they leave, sure that whatever the future held and no matter how hard it got, they could handle it as long as they were together.

* * *

Omakes- These are just a couple things I cut out. Mostly filler to hold a scene before I went back and edited it. Thought they were amusing enough to keep though, so enjoy.

Omake 1:

"Looking good there, Blake. Working the legs? Maybe I can give them a hand." Yang says with a smirk, only to get a laugh from Weiss, sitting on a nearby bench taking a break of her own.

"You wish." She says.

"Aww, jealous there Ice Queen? Don't worry, I've got two hands and plenty of heat to thaw you out." She gives her a wink.

"Ugh, here we go with this again." Ruby rolls her eyes.

"Please, your hands stink of sweat, keep them away from me."

"Oh, ouch." Yang feigned hurt, "You're missing out then. Isn't she Blake? Aren't I hot?"

"You are a Goddess' statue carved from marble and given life." Blake says in a deadpan tone without looking up.

"See, Blake agrees."

"Oh please she's not even paying attention. She'd say that about anyone right now, watch." Weiss says, "Blake, am I attractive?"

"You are as beautiful as a perfectly carved ice sculpture in the sun on a cold winters day." Blake says in the same tone.

"I'm a Goddess in marble, your just ice." Yang says.

"Completely missing the point." Weiss says.

"Doesn't matter, this is fun." Yang says with a grin, "Hey Blake, do some more. How hot am I?"

"You are the sun a dozen times over. People go blind looking at you and say it was worth it. If we weren't teammates I would want you to ravage me wonderfully." Blake says, still without a hint of emotion.

"Oh come on." Ruby complains, "That's my sister you're saying those things about."

"I guess it runs in the family then." Blake responds easily.

"Oh!" Yang lets out in surprise, "Wow. I'd usually threaten someone for saying that about my sister but that was a nice save so I'm gonna let it slide."

-Omake 2:

"Ahhh." Ruby let out a contented sigh and stretched her arms. "That's better."

"I thought you liked being in your suit though?" Weiss asked as the team of them walked towards Ozpin's office, having just left their suits behind to be repaired and refilled.

"I do, but it's like changing into your pajamas. Even if you like your clothes, PJ's are better."

"I suppose that makes some kind of sense."

"Of course it does. Softer, lighter, lets the skin breath. Having a flying suit is fun, but normal clothes are more comfy."

"At least you actually remembered to wear normal clothes under it." Yang says with a grin.

"That was ONE TIME!" Ruby yells and blushes, "I was running late and I didn't even have time to dry my hair!"

"The best part was when you forgot and stepped out of the suit." Yang says and laughs, "I still remember the look when you realized."

"It was embarrassing! I was in my underwear!"

"I'd say the best part was her choice of attire." Blake adds, "The beowulves were a nice touch."

"Can we please stop talking about this?"

"We could always talk about the time you put your suit on backwards." Weiss says.

"Hey that one was Penny's fault."

"And who programmed her?"

"Fine it was my fault." Ruby says, looking down. Then she gets a mischievous grin. "Or we could talk about the time Yang's hair got caught in her suit."

"Hey that wasn't funny." Yang objects.

"I believe your exact words at the time were 'if any of you try to cut off my hair I'll shave you bald and make a sweater out of it' or something like that." Weiss says.

* * *

 _ **AN: So this is probably my longest one-shot ever. Was an idea I really enjoyed though and wanted to get it out. Since I can't draw then fics were the way to go. Luckily thanks to the RWBY Big Bang there will be art of it too. So i hope you enjoyed it, and don't forget to review.**_


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